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Handiہانڈیاردو
Desserts & mithai

Zarda Recipe

زردہ بنانے کا طریقہ

Wedding-style zarda: long basmati grains boiled with colour, then steamed in ghee syrup with cardamom, nuts, raisins and khoya until glossy and separate.
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Illustration of Zarda

Prep

15 min

Cook

40 min

Marinate / soak

30 min

Serves

6

Difficulty

Medium

Spice

Mild

Zarda is the sweet yellow rice that closes every Pakistani wedding meal and many niyaz and Eid tables. The rice is par-boiled with colour like a pulao, then finished on dum in a syrup of ghee and sugar so each grain turns glossy and stays separate. Cardamom, cloves, nuts and raisins go in the ghee; khoya or chum chum crumbled on top is the shaadi touch.

Ingredients

6 servings

For 6 servings

Measures

To boil the rice

To finish

Method

  1. Soak the washed rice in water, then drain.

    ⏱ 30 min

  2. Bring the boiling water to a rolling boil with the food colour and 4 cardamom pods. Add the rice and boil until the grains are about three-quarters cooked: soft outside with a firm, white dot in the centre.

    ⏱ 6 min

  3. Drain the rice in a colander and leave it to steam off. Do not rinse.

  4. In a heavy pan, heat the ghee on medium heat and fry the crushed cardamom and cloves for 30 seconds. Add the almonds, coconut if using, and raisins and fry until the raisins puff up.

    ⏱ 2 min

  5. Add the sugar and half a cup of water and stir until the sugar melts and the syrup bubbles.

    ⏱ 3 min

  6. Tip in the rice and fold gently with a flat spoon until every grain is coated. Cook on medium heat until the syrup is mostly absorbed and bubbles form on the surface.

    ⏱ 5 min

  7. Sprinkle the kewra, cover tightly and put on dum: lowest heat, ideally on a tawa under the pan, until the rice is fully cooked and glossy.

    ⏱ 15 min

  8. Fluff gently from the sides, dish out and top with the pistachios and crumbled khoya.

Tips for the best result

  • Old, long-grain basmati gives the best zarda; new rice breaks and goes sticky in the syrup.
  • For mutanjan, add chum chum pieces and a few colours of rice cooked separately, and use a little more sugar.
  • Use only a little colour; zarda should be saffron-yellow, not neon orange.

Common mistakes

  • Boiling the rice fully. It keeps cooking in the syrup, so fully boiled rice turns mushy.
  • Stirring with a ladle after the syrup goes in. It breaks the grains; fold gently from the bottom.

How to serve

Serve warm or at room temperature after biryani or qorma, as the sweet course at a dawat or niyaz.

Storing and reheating

Keeps 3 days in the fridge. Warm in a covered pan on low heat with a sprinkle of water.

Nutrition and cost

Worked out from the ingredients, not measured in a lab. Treat both as a rough guide.

Per serving Estimate

Calories
580kcal
Protein
6g
Fat
16g
Carbs
104g
Fibre
2.1g
Sodium
0mg

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018), public domain values for the raw ingredients (100% of the recipe by weight had data). Deep-frying oil is counted at 20%; bones and water lost in cooking are not subtracted, so bone-in and fried dishes can read high. Not medical advice. Method

Cost per servingEstimate

≈ Rs 20

Whole dish ≈ Rs 120 · 82% of ingredients by weight priced

From the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics weekly SPI, week ended 29 Oct 2026. Spices, herbs and some vegetables are not in the SPI and are left out unless you add your price, so the real cost is a little higher. How this works

Zarda: questions people ask

Why did my zarda become sticky?

The rice was overboiled or stirred too much in the syrup. Boil only to three-quarters, drain well and fold gently.

What is the difference between zarda and mutanjan?

Zarda is single-coloured sweet rice with nuts. Mutanjan is a richer, multi-coloured version with chum chum, more khoya and often more sugar.

Serve it with, and similar recipes

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Read this recipe in Urdu: زردہ بنانے کا طریقہ

https://handi.danixsoft.com/recipes/zarda · Handi, DanixSoft